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Topic Review (Newest First)

05-20-2013 02:02 PM

telmex

I wish I would have read all the horror stories before I bought a SBF 408 with 525hp from AR racing. That was a joke, and I am a fool for believeing. I paid 4 grand for straight junk, the best parts on the motor were the ARP bolts.

Did four 1/4 mile passes spun a crankshaft bearing.

01-11-2013 06:33 PM

BLOWNANGLIA

AR Racing deadend.

Well I Saw the add in a local trader pulication from "AR" for a 383 with aluminum heads for a steal of a price. So I contacted Mr. Mark Lim @ "AR". Seemed like a nice fella so I asked if I could come see his shop & possibly give him a down payment for the 383. He was hesitant @ first but finally agreed. Off I go to Snake castle road (about a 40 minute drive from my house). I found an old house, with an as old garage, (thats the shop). Knocked on the door and Mark answered. Inside there were several small block in various forms and states of completion. not impressed with the shop, but I pressed on. Mark eventually closed the deal with me & a month later I had my 383. While he was building the motor, I was busy smoothing the front frame & firewall & painting the motorbox on the 55. Install the engine, put the front clip back on. Man this thing "LOOKS" sweet in there! Fire it up, take it to 2500 rpm for 30 minutes to break in the cam, sounds great! Shut it off to change the oil, oil starts draining & draining & draining untill now It looks milky & then green! Seems they ground the block to deep for the stroker crank! Not happy. Call Mark he says well pull it back out and bring it back. Long story short, He built me another and it was only marginally better than the first one. It pulled great but it vibratted so bad I thought the shifter was gonna come flying through the floor @ 5000 rpm. leaked out of both ends, smoked out of both pipes and sounded like a freekin diesel! Gave that one back to get my money back and that sob made PAYMENTS to me to pay me back over 6 months & shorted me $100.00 on the last check! I have since met another in my community that had a similar experience. Well that my sad story and I'm stickin to it!

02-09-2011 08:49 PM

sanman

AR Racing

Quote:

Originally Posted by 64Duece

I read long time ago a post referring to AR Racing Engines from VA. I just received one and will install this weekend. Couple of points - you cannot build this engine yourself for the price you pay, I compared it to the ZZ4 which I was almost ready to buy. Although everybodies engine on the NET is built from a seasoned (old block) it is the specific builders capabilities and internal parts that make the deal for me. I paid $3050 + $190 for shipping and got the motor delivered to Clearwater, FL in 3 days. It is a 383 with Dart Iron Eagles, Eagle crank, Eagle I-Beam rods, rest of the rotating assembly is Speed-Pro. Valve springs and complete valve train is Comp Cams XE series. Motor built with the best of bearings and ARP fastners throughout. For those interested, AR Racing is a "Machine Shop" all work done in-house, not parted out to vendors, therefore assembly is overseen by a couple of guys from start to finish. The numbers are conversative on the HP/Torque side. I shopped engines since last year when the NOVA was undergoning restoration, and I will agree there are many builders on the NET that make some ridiculos claims to HP - mainly in Ariz. and Cal. The reputable ones will talk to you and tell you what you can expect!!! Face it - a small block is a small block - but the internals and the assembly of matching components is what differiniates one from the next. I went with AR since Mark always accepted my numerous phone calls and described the details of his process of engine building up to the time I ordered the motor. No pressure, no hard sell whatsoever. Be aware of those that build "garage motors" and make claims of big-time engine builders, some are on Ebay Any motorhead knows you ain't gonna get 500HP from a 355 with dished pistons and a mild (488 lift) cam, but I see the same motor with diff pistons and cam claiming very diff HP/Torque ratings, and those guys scared me away. Simply put - I couldn't find a better motor/deal than from AR, and they build 4 a week nationally. A small shop doing good things. Engine are not dynoed, but very few do that for the low prices advertised. Check out Jon Barrett engines in OK. They build a nice product and you will even get a sales rep calling every day to push the order. The $3795 motor ends up costing you bout $5K cause they dont want to dyno the motor and then remove the ingintion/fuel system and whatever else is on the advertised inital price. _ I will follow up with my own personally viewed rear wheel dyno #s in a week or so.

I used AR off Ebay and had a couple of issues. However I am in So CA and Mark made extremly good on the issues. Over a year later and my 383 runs like a monster. I LOVE it. I have to agree with everything I read above. Great build.

10-01-2008 09:59 PM

wildman926

Wow, this thread is old. I have since rebuilt a new motor, and found the issue to be that the block and heads were milled severely, and the intake does not sit square. The intake will have to be cut to fit, or the heads removed and shaved on the intake side.

Attached pic is of my new motor just installed this summer.

10-01-2008 07:07 PM

bmansr

I agree a.r. ak.a. Mark is a bowlchit artist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got the 500 h.p 383 runs real slow,told him what I was trying to do he said o.k. pay up,I did pay and got junk,leaks,overpriced shipping that was free!! internal issues that Mark was of zero help,I will say never again,for those of you who got lucky,maybe he got a crate engine from G.M.,I would not let mark rebuild my weedwacker,I would rather eat catshi# with a sewing needle than deal with the unanswered phone calls(he doesn't think we know about caller i.d.??) answered everytime before my check cleared.lesson learned,didn't even get the block casting I was promised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

09-06-2005 07:08 PM

ratlover

glad to hear it worked out for you. Naturally there is skepticism with such an ad-like post, as i am sure you have seen some of them prior to be added to the dump. sounds like a good deal, but there are still some questions regarding warranty and follow-up should problems develop.

I wished that Mark just would have taken care of the issue. It sounds good, runs like a scalded dog, but smokes like a chimney. Due to me being so proud, I got into the mode of "I will show them, I will rebuild it exactly how I think it should be done", and now am into $2500 in parts alone to stroke and rebuild it. But that is ok, just live and learn. He seemed like a nice guy, he just doesn't own up to problems, at least mine.

Take a look at my photo gallery. I uploaded my father-in-law's Nova. He will be putting the exhaust out to the back, and has already changed the gasser style air filter. Take care and good luck.

09-06-2005 11:17 AM

64Deuce

AR Racing

Sorry to hear bout problems with purchases, this was my main concern going out of my area to obtain a motor, I did receive a Fed Ex bill today that was $75 more than quoted price, spoke with Mark @ AR and the FedEx guy called me and is sending an adjustment, however, I bought a motor that was an Ebay deal that fell thru, AR Engines on Ebay for the month of Aug, shipped for free, so now I wonder just how good my deal was, for another $300 could have gotten Pro 1 Alum heads for total price I paid and still been around $3500. Oh well, I got what I ordered at least. I discredit those that sell junk or don't stand behind their product!!! Certainly there are enough of those guys opearting out there.

09-06-2005 09:32 AM

wildman926

64Duece,

That is great to hear that you had an excellent outcome with your engine purchase from AR Racing. Believe me, I have tried in vain to get this resolved, but when the engine builder is halfway across the nation from you, it is easy for something like this to happen to you as it has me. They just won't answer the phone or my emails. Mark seemed sincere, but if they would have taken care of the problem, then it would be a non issue. I just know that I have to rebuild a new motor from him. I know that I am not the only BBC problem that he has had, with the same symptoms. I just got the bad end of the stick on this deal, and hopefully no one else will in the future.

I bet if you had started your thread as you have wrote in your last post, you would not have gotten flamed like you did. If you read your first post on this thread, it does sound like an advertisement.

Enjoy that 64!! I went and picked up a 66 Nova SS for my father-in-law 1 week before Christmas last year.

09-06-2005 09:08 AM

64Deuce

AR Racing Issues

I posted the thread merely cause I have studied the Net Engine builders for some time now, visited many sites claming to be engine builders, even discovered some that built engines at home in the garage, cause you have the knowledge and even experience don't make you an engine builder, to me the definition goes much further, anyway, this aint no AD, just my personal observations and opinions. I found Mark at AR to be receptive, not deceptive, responsive, not reclusive, and informative. I was able to buy a motor that was bought on Ebay and deal fell thru, he had 2 of them a 355 and 383. Price was $2,600 for the 355 and $3,050 for the 383. I choose the 383 for my NOVA cause I don't care for 350s in generic form and wanted more torque. The motor came as advertised, I couldn't use the pan so Mark had a shop pan on the engine with 4 bolts only. I removed the pan checked the crank - Eagle - checked the piston skirts, they are as advertised Speed Pros, and the heads are Dart Iorn Eagles 64cc/200s. I will state again, I went with AR because they are a machine shop first, almost all work done in-house, have good write-ups in various mags, where their engines are used in featured car articles. They are small, which I like (Engine Factory in NJ is much bigger). Furthermore, the bigger guys state a long block price, but push like hell to sell you a turn key engine only!! This holds true for many I have spoken with. Another reason I went with AR, seems the $3,500 price tage quoted by many turns into $5,600 when you get down to the ordering process. Because some dyno the engine, they dont want to remove the iginition, fuel, cooling systems, they definitely want to sell that stuff to you as well. I wanted my own stuff to hang on the motor.
I am just a 60 yr old hotrodder that recently bought a 64 NOVA to fix up and have done most of the research on aftermarket products and especially engines. I could not find an engine builder in my area that could come close to the price I paid for the AR motor. I am forturnate to have a great fabricator/wrencher/motor-head that also has a Pro-Street 64 Nova that is doing all necessary things to my Nova, new posi, frame connectors, mini-tubs- 350 stall/shift kit, and installing the new bullet and tunning it.
In closing - I started this thread cause of my own feelings of intimidation of purchasing an engine on the internet, site unseen, hell! these motors could have anything inside them. Alot of the buys on the net have to be a gut check at times, do you really know what yur gettin? Im glad I found this site cause there seems to be a wealth of great info on all aspects of hotroddin'. I will definitely endorse those that have provided me a good product or service so if that is an AD so be it!!!

09-02-2005 07:12 PM

wildman926

I am not saying that all their work is bad. He does specialize in small blocks. I just know they blew it with my BB in every sense. He did blow it with another BB that was returned to him with the very same issues.

It was on this very site that I found the info about the wrong intake gasket used, and relayed this site to him. He did say that this was a very legitimate site for info. So, I am hoping he is reading this, so he knows that I am not silent about his crappy work.

Well, I'll post again - sorry to hear you had such problems, Wildman. When I researched A.R. Racing, including the central Virginia BBB, I couldn't find any complaints and I also noticed that there had been no negative ebay feedback for 12 months or more. I was going to visit the shop since it's about a 1.5 hour drive away, but never did.

The 383 I bought was delivered to my driveway, wrapped in pastic, with documentation and instructions. It fired up just fine, break-in went well and I've put about 400 miles on it with no problems at all.

It's not my job to defend A.R. Racing and I'm not going to. All I'm saying is I didn't have any problems and I got no regrets and would probably buy from them again.

If 64Duece was a one-post and disappear type person, than maybe it was an advertisement and this thread should go to the dump!

09-02-2005 01:24 PM

ratlover

HMMMM.......

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